The Madmen
Event The journey comes with some confusion regarding logistics and food ("What do children even eat?" Malaclypse had cried). In the end, you manage to bring the mage children safely to the Madmen near Forstford. Their home is an ominous building with high gates, barred windows, and faint screaming coming from within. It passes as an asylum disquietingly well. "Right, we'll just drop these little munchkins off and be on our way to get that cure." Malaclypse leads your ragtag bunch to the main door before turning to you and saying seriously, "Please, perform the secret knock." 1) Rap the door in ten quick bursts. :"Wrong!" Malaclypse shouts. 2) Knock a tune. :Malaclypse wipes an imaginary tear from his eye. "Beautiful, simply a masterpiece. That wasn't the secret knock but I accept it anyway." Then, he merely pushes open the unlocked doors. You are met by two tall men - identical twins - dressed in patterned nightgowns. Ira of the Vale told us you'd be coming," one of the twins says. "I'm Berry and this is Merry. They call us the Madmen, but it is only a name." They shove you aside and hurry the children indoors. "We're good sorts, aren't we, Berry?" His twin nods as he brushes the children's hair and hands them nightgowns. "Yes, indeed. But sometimes I forget we're merely acting and I do mad things like setting that farm on fire." "Keeps the rabble off our trail though, don't it?" Merry nods as he brings out a plate of warm spiced breads." As the children warily settle down to eat spiced breads and butter, Merry asks you a favour. "We will need your 'elp clearing out this place. Hasn't been an orphanage for a long time, has it?" "Not fit for children - the monsters and the burning room, Merry," Berry notes while cutting carrots. A) Extinguish the burning room. :As you approach the stairs, a man in rags rushes past and barrels into an adjacent room. He peers out at you with mad eyes. :"That'd be Frida," Merry says behind you. "He kept trying to climb Forstford's clock tower so they sent 'im here. He's harmless." :Frida slams the door closed, then open, then closed again. :You arrive at the burning room. :The room is literally on fire, everything has been reduced to ash inside. Somehow, magic is keeping the fire contained within. :1) Walk in. ::You stride confidently into the fiery room and are immediately engulfed in flame. Malaclypse bursts into laughter. ::The player draws a Life Pain Card. ::You back out of the room, patting frantically at the spot fires on your arms and legs. :2) Ask Malaclypse what to do. ::The mage shrugs. "Perhaps that's the answer?" ::He points to a chubby, lizard-like creature the size of a small dog. It watches you cautiously from the corner of the room. ::"A fire salamander. A hatchling, at that! I'd have thought them long extinct." :3) Try to placate the flame creature. (available after asking Malaclypse what to do) ::Chance Cards Gambit (1 Success, 2 Failure, 1 Huge Failure) (This gambit gets easier with subsequent attempts, and a Huge Success is added.) ::Huge Success :::You coo and offer cake to the fat little lizard. Intrigued, it waddles over to the doorframe, licking its lips. You notice the flames recede as it approaches. :::It stifles a burp and spits a piece of equipment onto the ground. The item sizzles on the floorboards. :::The player draws an Equipment Card. :::The fires have been extinguished, but the room continues to smoke and smoulder :::A) Walk in. ::::With the salamander calmed, the flames recede and the room becomes cool enough to enter. The chubby creature clambers up your leg and snuggles into your arms, gibbering softly to itself. ::::The little beast gags and convulses in your arms until, with a tiny squawk, it coughs up an item that drops painfully onto your toe. ::::The player draws a Life Pain Card. ::::The player draws an Equipment Card. ::::On the advice of Malaclypse - "Those ones are prone to spontaneous combustion" - you release the little creature outside. ::::It gives your palm a warm little lick before it patters away to the cliffs nearby. ::::With that dealt with, you return to the kitchen. ::::Merry boils sheets in a massive steel vat while his brother prepares radishes for the stew. ::::Their tummies full of warm bread, the children find comfortable spots around the kitchen to nap. ::::1) Go kill the monster. (See below) :::B) Ask Malaclypse what to do. ::::(insert text here) ::Success :::(insert text here) ::Failure :::The fiery creature stares at your offer, but refuses to budge. ::Huge Failure :::The little lizard panics. Its cheeks bulge and it glances about, furtively. Suddenly, it belches fire over you and your companion, singeing your hair and eyebrows. :::The player draws a Life Pain Card. B) Go kill the monster: :Berry leads you down to the cellar door. "It's in there. I've had to resort to going down to town to buy our pickled vegetables. They scream like banshees when I ask them what blood they've pickled them in, though." :Berry closes the door behind you. You follow the steps deep beneath the fortress until you find yourself in an underground cave. :You hear a guttural moan... :The Dealer draws a Terror of Blight. :The player enters Combat. :You poke at the dead thing to see if it holds any treasure, but find nothing of value. :Malaclypse rubs his shoulder nervously as he gazes into the creatures cold, dead eyes. Once the player has completed both tasks: :The player gains this card's token. :With the problems resolved, the Madmen insist you stay for supper. Seated on opposite ends of a comically long dining table, you shout conversation at each other. :Malaclypse takes quickly and jovially to the shouting. :A) Ask them how they know Malaclypse. ::"Yes, Malaclypse stole some scrolls from the orphanage once." ::The bard chokes into his bowl. ::The Madmen seem nonchalant about the transgression. "You were just a boy, but it doesn't make it right. We'd like those scrolls back sometime." :B) Ask their opinion of the Empire. ::"General calamity, isn't it, Berry?" Merry shouts as he hands out hunks of bread. ::Berry nods. "I wouldn't think they were so bad, if only they didn't try and kill all us magic folk. Not to mention what they did to those poor Lizardmen." ::"I remember," Berry continues, "when my silk trader was a Lizardman. Now they're all dead, except for the bloke hiding in the City." ::"Weren't," Malaclypse bellows back, "weren't the Lizardmen wiped out centuries ago?" ::Berry scratches his crooked nose (at least you think he did, he's so very far away). "Yes, it has been a while hasn't it?" :C) Compliment the stew. ::You yell across the table that the stew is delicious. ::"What?" Merry shouts back. ::"He says there's too much carrot in the stew!" Malaclypse joins in. ::The Madmen look at each other, confused. "No, we can't marry you!" ::"Yes, I will marry you!" Malaclypse replies. He reaches for his lute. ::"It's real Armskirk wood thank you for noticing!" :D) Finish eating supper. ::As you finish your stew, Malaclypse brings out his lute. ::After the second song, the Madmen politely suggest that it's time for you two to leave. The children giggle at the bard's silent indignation. ::With the mage children peering out behind them, the Madmen near Forstford wave goodbye from the front door. ::The player gains 4 Fame. ::As the door closes, your companion collapses on his hands and knees, blood oozing from his mouth. ::He pulls himself wearily to his feet and groans, "This cure can't come soon enough, coin-slave!" Unlocked By Acquire the token for The Stolen Ones. Token Unlocks For making the Madmen's orphanage liveable for orphans... The Cure Category:Encounters Category:Companion-Specific Category:Tokens Category:Encounter Tokens Category:Chance Cards Gambits